The decision of Springfield police and City Council to contract with a company for inmate transportation appears to be a good short-term solution.

It seems to solve one of the issues police were having with the current arrangement — the drain on resources to have on-duty officers handling time-consuming transports.

The deal also moved money that was already budgeted toward inmate transfer. It didn’t require any additional funds.

And generally, it’s good that officials are seeking less traditional options to deal with municipal inmates.

However, we want to offer a warning — officials must make sure that a private company’s operation is open for review.

Private companies, even when contracting with government agencies, have the ability to hold tighter to information, often claiming it is proprietary.

What happens if there’s a problem transporting inmates — a crash occurs or an inmate escapes? Will the public be able to review what went wrong?

This is not a criticism of Southern Missouri Judicial Services, the company being paid to transport inmates to Taney County. It may be completely open with its policies and procedures and may complete its contract with no problems.

However, we’re leaning on public officials to make sure that’s the case with this company or any other the city may need to work with while the Greene County Jail isn’t accepting municipal inmates.

Police Chief Paul Williams said he will dictate procedures to the company and that Springfield Police will control the release of information — remaining as open as they currently are.

We don’t know how long it will be until Springfield police have full access to the jail. Based on comments from officials, it appears no deal will be worked out before the city’s lawsuit against the county is settled.

Civil suits can go on for years, and it’s possible a judge will not rule in the city’s favor, in which case Springfield leaders will need to come up with even more solutions.

Taking advantage of the efficiency the private sector can offer is a smart move.

However, in this and any further solutions involving private companies, we must make sure those companies are held to the same standards of openness as our local government.

The city should join us in making it clear that the company, even though private, is getting public funds and therefore should be open and transparent when questions are asked.